Understanding punk and the story behind it

Written by Elma Adisya | Read in Indonesian

God save the queen

We mean it, man

There is no future

In England's dreaming

No future, no future,

No future for you

“God Save the Queen”, one of the most iconic songs of the British punk band Sex Pistol, expressed the band’s harsh criticism of the British monarchy at that time. The release of this single was seen as a bold move, because it was done during Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee on 7 June 1977. The Silver Jubilee commemorated the 25th anniversary of the ascension of Queen Elizabeth II to the throne on 6 February 1952.

The concept of the release was extraordinary; the band, led by Sid Vicious, planned to sing the song on a ship called The Queen Elizabeth, which sailed down the Thames near the Palace of Westminster. Unfortunately, the stunt failed and the entire crew was arrested.

Sex Pistol is just one of the icons of the punk subculture that developed in the mid-1970s. The word "punk" first appeared in the early 1970s to describe a fashion style and a music genre.

As a music genre, punk emerged in the United States and England circa 1976-1977. The songs of these punk singers carry the spirit of the punk subculture, namely anti-establishment; an attitude that rejects all forms of order or structure that are deemed hindering individual freedom and causing social injustice. This ideology also strongly criticises the capitalist system and government authority, and upholds equality and freedom of expression for all.

Anti-capitalist issues evolved into social issues

The spirit of the punk subculture then evolved into a representation of various social issues in society, including women’s issues. One of the iconic punk bands in the early days of punk in the 1970s that voiced women's issues was The Slits from London which was formed in 1976. One of their songs, “Typical Girls (1979), is the band's social commentary on the rigid gender roles of women in society that demanded women to be passive, submissive and only act as a flower vase.

The song, arguably an important anthem for the feminist punk at that time, encouraged women to liberate themselves from society's expectations of women.

Not only the inequality of gender roles in society, at that time there were also many punk songs that spoke about female sexuality, one of which was “The Voids” (1981) by the punk band The Raincoats. The song described women's sexual desire and pleasure and emphasised that women also have the right to express their desire and enjoy sex with their own definitions.

How about the issue of sexual violence? Those exist too. The single by the US punk band L7, "Surf Goddess" (1992), talked about the issue of sexual violence on the beach. This song encouraged women to fight against sexual violence they experience and reclaim the power of their bodies.

Voicing social inequality, but not women-friendly

However, the dedication of women in the punk scene has been brushed aside by some of their peers. A report by The Guardian revealed that one of the reasons was the power and influence of male groups in the punk scene who did nothing to help eradicate inequality in the subculture.

It is ironic, considering that the early spirit of punk was rebellion against social inequality, but in reality, everywhere around the world, the punk scene is still seen as a super masculine place that is not female friendly.

In her research, Katherine Barner explained that when punk began to develop in the 1970s, the subculture did give women a setting to play the music they wanted, but that did not mean that women did not experience discrimination, sexism and misogyny in the punk scene.

Moreover, we know that one of the punk icons, Sid Vicious, murdered his girlfriend. Also, many punk songs still use language that degrades women. Misogyny does not only occur within the scene. The mass media also contributes to the construction of sexist views of female punk bands by commenting on their bodies rather than their works. That’s right, women are still seen as commodities and objects whose purpose is only to beautify the scene.

Not to mention "moshing", a dance in which people in the crowd bump into each other and wave their arms aggressively and is dominated by men whose bodies are physically bigger and stronger than women. This makes it likely for them to hurt women in the crowd.

In Ednie Kaeh Garrison's research, Jennifer Niro from the punk band The Nuns described the dangers of the punk scene for women as the culture evolved in the late 1970s.

“Later it became this macho hardcore thrasher punk scene and that was not what it was about at first. There were a lot of women in the beginning. It was women doing things. Then it became this whole macho, anti-women thing. Then women didn’t go to see punk bands anymore because they were afraid of getting killed. I didn’t even go because it was so violent and so macho that it was repulsive," said Niro.

However, despite the enormous challenges faced by these female punkers, they are still striving to voice their concerns and break through the culture of toxic masculinity in the scene.

What about the Asian punk scene?

Along with the spread of the punk subculture to all corners of the world, it also began to enter and be accepted by young people in Asia. The characteristics, spirit and challenges of the punk scene in Asia vary from country to country.

In Japan, the genre began to develop in the late 70s through early 80s along with the development of punk in the West. Punk musicians in Japan added many elements of noise rock, avant-garde music and experimental music to their sound. In China, the genre was fighting against government pressure and censorship. Most of their songs were aimed at criticising the government and, of course, many got backlash afterwards.

Not only in East Asia, the punk music scene is also developing and intersecting with the socio-political movements in Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines,. Many of their songs carry the theme of social inequality, corruption and other social issues. As with the development of punk in the West, social issues raised in the Asian punk scene also evolved and they began to talk about the everyday problems of Asian women.

One example is the female punk band from Japan, CHAI, with their single "NEO KAWAII". In this song, the punk band, which was formed in 2012, expressed that women don't need to follow societal standards to be kawaii or cute, because kawaii should be diverse and all girls are kawaii in their own way.

In the end, punk stays true to its “nature” as a movement that voices social issues, even though what and for whom the social issues are have shifted. Likewise with the movement of the punk scene in Indonesia, which also has its own unique characteristics, facing very Indonesian social and cultural problems. TFR will discuss more about this in part 2 of this series, coming soon.